Fuels & LubricantsDiscussion all about Fuels & Lubricants. synthetic oil, conventional oil, brands, change intervals, diesel grades, gelling and such debated items like that. Non TDI related postings will be moved or removed. This forum is NOT for the discussion of biodiesel and other alternative fuels.

The numbers I have are from corporate emails and usually have two sources to back them up. However, with rising prices I'm hearing of what appears to be more and more small (local one owner) branded stations sucumming to the temptation to use an off brand supplier to save $$ and compete.

Not true. For example, BP has a refinery in Whiting, IN that only produces their Premium Diesel products (per the owner of a station I used to frequent in MI). As far as I know, the refining process is one way of upping the cetane.

Sorry Tom,

BP does have a refinery in IN (I'll assume you're correct there). But oil products often change hands between 2 and 5 times between production and delivery.

I have a friend who runs tug boats that bring fuel oil and lube oils from Texas to the east coast and they receive different orders of where it's going as much as 5 seperate times during the trip as to who currently owns the product on board. So Shell or BP may have refined it, but the oil companies trade product kids at a lunch table trade snacks.

Additives are generally added locally as they are frequently dependent on the region. For example - no one in Florida has probably ever heard of "winter" diesel.

BP does have a refinery in IN (I'll assume you're correct there). But oil products often change hands between 2 and 5 times between production and delivery.

I have a friend who runs tug boats that bring fuel oil and lube oils from Texas to the east coast and they receive different orders of where it's going as much as 5 seperate times during the trip as to who currently owns the product on board. So Shell or BP may have refined it, but the oil companies trade product kids at a lunch table trade snacks.

Additives are generally added locally as they are frequently dependent on the region. For example - no one in Florida has probably ever heard of "winter" diesel.

True, refinery products get traded like baseball cards. All additives (for gasoline and diesel) are added at the product distribution terminal.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Mike

........"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." -- philosopher Mike Tyson.

There is a pipeline from the refinery at Whiting that goes to a terminal in Napoleon, MI. Wacker Oil has their own truck picking up 50 cetane diesel from Napoleon and bringing it to their tanks in Manchester, MI.

Sure, additives are applied at the loading rack in the terminal, but the higher cetane number comes from the refining process.

For those of us who don't have an owners manual (mine was lost prior to buying at it new at the dealership 3 months ago, and yet to get one. The dealership says VW only prints 1 per car and no extras...) what DOES it say about biodiesel? My tank says "Ultra Low Sulfur", no mention about straight or biodiesel.

For those of us who don't have an owners manual (mine was lost prior to buying at it new at the dealership 3 months ago, and yet to get one. The dealership says VW only prints 1 per car and no extras...) what DOES it say about biodiesel? My tank says "Ultra Low Sulfur", no mention about straight or biodiesel.

I travel between Tulsa and Chicago a lot. I notice quite a bit of difference in MPG between Petro and BP fuel in my car. Also, by using BP, I stay away from the "it might be B5 or it might be B20, who knows!?" diesel around here.
Petro=I struggle for 37mpg
BP=I struggle for 41mpg
All speeds are a cruise controlled 65 mph on I55.
Both MPG figures have been repeated multiple times by both fuels.

However anecdotal my evidence may be, I am convinced through my methods that my car just likes BP much better. Each time: 1. I fill to the same spot in the filler neck every time. 2. I calculate MPG with my calculator.

Interestingly enough, I can guess my overall MPG because the car computer has never failed yet to be 1.1 to 1.3 MPG higher than actual MPG.

BP/Amoco is the only true "premium" (as in Amoco Premier Diesel) 47 cetane that I know of in the DC region. Shell sells both 45 cetane "premium" and 40 cetane "premium".
Everyone else (Exxon, Chevron, Sunoco, Liberty) I've noticed sells 40 cetane, and most of them call it "premium."

Here in Indiana we have CountryMark -- http://www.countrymark.com/pdr.cfm.
Their Premium-R diesel is 50 cetane and HFRR 460 (lower if you use the Premium with bio-diesel added that's sold at many of their stations). Nice, too, to know its made from crude that comes from wells in Indiana/Illinois, and is refined in Indiana and distributed by their own network. More jobs right here.